FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Micah Parsons isn't sure if the first injury absence of the two-time All-Pro pass rusher's NFL career will end in a pivotal game for his Dallas Cowboys against rival San Francisco.
If Parsons is watching from the sideline Sunday night in California because of his high ankle sprain, it will just extend his absence to a third game.
“It’s been a challenging time for me,” Parsons said Monday as the Cowboys (3-3) returned from their bye week. “It’s been a lot of time for me to reflect on myself and how I can get better and what things I can do to help this team get better. I’m using this time away. I just can’t wait to get back out there.”
Parsons was out for a 20-17 victory at Pittsburgh and a 47-9 loss to Detroit, the latter a third consecutive home defeat in which the Dallas defense could do nothing to stop the opponent. It's actually four in a row when a wild-card loss to Green Bay last January is included.
The visit to the 49ers (3-4) will be a month and a day since Parsons was injured in the second half of a 20-15 win at the New York Giants. Before that, his only missed game was because of COVID-19 his rookie year.
The 2021 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year was there for the first two home games this season, not to mention the 48-32 shocker against the Packers that ended Dallas' 2023 season.
So there's plenty for Parsons and the rest of the defense to fix against the injury-riddled 49ers. There also could be other reinforcements.
Linebacker Eric Kendricks could return after missing a game with calf and shoulder issues.
Cornerback DaRon Bland, who set an NFL record last season with five interception returns for touchdowns, could make his season debut coming off surgery for a stress fracture in his foot. Bland's two-week practice window coming off injured reserve was activated before the Detroit game.
The Cowboys are in the bottom third of the NFL in overall and rushing defense and 31st in scoring defense. Takeaways that have been staples for three seasons are nearly nonexistent (five through six games).
“Just how I can make others around me better,” Parsons said when asked what he had been reflecting on during the absence. “I think about watching the film ... things that I could do to set up others to win better and things like that. It’s a good thing these guys are getting the experience they can right now.”
Parsons said the athletic training staff and the coaches will have plenty of say in whether he plays. The Cowboys kept him off injured reserve, which means they considered the visit to the 49ers a reasonable target for his return.
“My hopes are always very high,” Parsons said. “I love great challenges. I love being able to beat the odds. As I said, I’m going to put this up to my trainers and my coaching staff.”
Coach Mike McCarthy said Parsons was among several getting treatment throughout the open week.
“I’m always appreciative and impressed with that,” McCarthy said. “You couldn’t tell it was an off week, really, just based on the number of guys I’ve seen in the building rolling through here throughout the week. Micah is making progress.”
Two other injury questions that will need answers this week come from a pair of rookies in left tackle Tyler Guyton (knee) and cornerback Caelen Carson (shoulder). Guyton was active but didn't play against the Lions. Carson has missed three games.
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FILE - Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons looks into the stands before an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sept. 22, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson, File)
The men formerly known as the Central Park Five before they were exonerated filed a defamation lawsuit on Monday against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
With Election Day two weeks away, the group accused the former president of making “false and defamatory statements” about them during last month's presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. The group is asking for a jury trial to determine compensatory and punitive damages.
“Defendant Trump falsely stated that plaintiffs killed an individual and pled guilty to the crime. These statements are demonstrably false,” the group wrote in the federal complaint.
The men are upset because Trump essentially “defamed them in front of 67 million people, which has caused them to seek to clear their names all over again,” co-lead counsel Shanin Specter told The Associated Press in an email.
Specter had no comment when asked if there were concerns some see the lawsuit as purely political because of the group's support for Harris. “We are seeking redress in the courts,” Specter said.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung decried the suit as “just another frivolous, Election Interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists, in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’s dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.”
Trump campaign officials did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise were teenagers when they were accused of the 1989 rape and beating of a white woman jogger in New York City's Central Park. The five, who are Black and Latino, said they confessed to the crimes under duress. They later recanted, pleading not guilty in court, and were later convicted after jury trials. Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after another person confessed to the crime.
After the crime, Trump purchased a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty. At the time, many in New York believed Trump’s ad was akin to calling for the teens to be executed. The jogger case was Trump’s first foray into tough-on-crime politics that preluded his full-throated populist political persona. Since then, dog whistles and overtly racist rhetoric have been fixtures of Trump’s public life.
In the Sept. 10 debate, Trump misstated key facts of the case when Harris brought up the matter.
“They admitted, they said they pled guilty and I said, ’well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately ... And they pled guilty, then they pled not guilty,” Trump said.
He appeared to be confusing guilty pleas with confessions. Also, no victim died.
The now Exonerated Five, including Salaam, who is now a New York City councilman, have been campaigning for Harris. Some of them spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August, calling out Trump for never apologizing for the newspaper ad.
They have also joined civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton for a get-out-the-vote bus tour.
Prior defamation suits involving Trump have led to sizable amounts awarded to the plaintiffs. In January, a jury awarded $83.3 million to advice columnist E. Jean Carroll over Trump's continued social media attacks against her claims he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in 1996. In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing her and issued a $5 million judgement.
FILE - The Central Park Five join Reverend Al Sharpton during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)
This combination photo shows, clockwise from top left, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Korey Wise and Kevin Richardson, known as Central Park five. (AP Photo)
